Via measurements of commensurability features near the Landau filling factor nu = 1/2, we probe the shape of the Fermi contour for hole-flux composite fermions confined to a wide GaAs quantum well. The data reveal that the composite fermions are strongly influenced by the characteristics of the Landau level in which they are formed. In particular, their Fermi contour is warped when their Landau level originates from a hole band with significant warping.

We report ballistic transport commensurability minima in the magnetoresistance of nu = 3/2 composite fermions (CFs). The CFs are formed in high-quality two-dimensional electron systems confined to wide GaAs quantum wells and subjected to an in-plane, unidirectional periodic potential modulation. We observe a slight asymmetry of the CF commensurability positions with respect to nu = 3/2, which we explain quantitatively by comparing three CF density models and concluding that the nu = 3/2 CFs are likely formed by the minority carriers in the upper energy spin state of the lowest Landau level. Our data also allow us to probe themore » shape and size of the CF Fermi contour. At a fixed electron density of similar or equal to 1.8x10(11) cm(-2), as the quantum well width increases from 30 to 60 nm, the CFs show increasing spin polarization. We attribute this to the enhancement of the Zeeman energy relative to the Coulomb energy in wider wells where the latter is softened because of the larger electron layer thickness. The application of an additional parallel magnetic field (B-parallel to) leads to a significant distortion of the CF Fermi contour as B-parallel to couples to the CFs' out-of-plane orbital motion. The distortion is much more severe compared to the nu = 1/2 CF case at comparable B-parallel to. Moreover, the applied B-parallel to further spin-polarizes the nu = 3/2 CFs as deduced from the positions of the commensurability minima.« less